


I Still Bleed Red

by Dragonlies



Category: Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Blood and Violence, Demon Slayer AU, Dreamon Hunters, Dreamons, Gen, Minor Character Death, Not Beta Read, Protective Toby Smith | Tubbo, Protective TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Toby Smith | Tubbo and TommyInnit are Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:20:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28172313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dragonlies/pseuds/Dragonlies
Summary: Tommy didn't think the day was anything other than ordinary when his older brother sent him into town to sell some potatoes. He thought it an inconvenience when it got dark before he could make his way back. He thought the world was ending, breaking into millions of shards before his very eyes, when he got home.But Tubbo was still alive, and that was enough to hold the fractured pieces together.aka: demon slayer au with Tommy and Tubbo
Relationships: Toby Smith | Tubbo & TommyInnit
Comments: 5
Kudos: 118





	1. What's a Dreamon

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jello12451](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jello12451/gifts).



> I have seen one episode of Demon Slayer, so needless to say this is far from following canon.

_How._

A boy struggled through the snow, exhaustion rattling through every bone and coursing through every breath.

_How could this happen?_

The heavy press of his brother in all but blood weighed down on his back as he fought to lift his foot past the snow piling up. It would be easier to simply leave his brother and continue himself. But that would never happen.

No matter what, Tommy would never leave Tubbo alone.

-

Tommy kicked his legs and swayed dangerously on the fence as he watched his older brother carefully back a sack full of potatoes. Techno was being way too careful if you asked Tommy, but Techno didn’t and Tommy had learned his lesson about messing with Techno’s potatoes _years_ ago. He wasn’t even entirely sure how Techno managed to grow potatoes as far south as they were, but he didn’t really care enough to ask. 

“You're heading out now Tommy?” Tommy most certainly _did not_ yelp at the appearance of his other older brother, Wilbur, and he most certainly _did not_ almost fall off the fence and have to grab on to Wilbur as support. Definitely not. 

Once Tommy had recovered from _absolutely nothing_ he cleared his throat and looked back over to Techno, “Well yeah Big Man, gotta get Techno’s potatoes into town so he can lord his harvest over that kid from town.” Techno grunted,

“I spent twelve hours working on the soil composition for these, there’s no way Squid has more, not with him still using soil with too much phosphorus.” Techno sneered and Tommy cast a glance at Wilbur,

“Yeah. I totally know what that means but maybe you should explain it to Wilbur.” Techno pointed to the now filled sack,

“Just take the potatoes,” 

Tommy left his home that day with a wave from his older brothers, a red scarf around his neck from his Dad (It’s getting cold Tommy I’m not letting you go all the way to town without some protection.), and a hug from Tubbo, his brother that their Dad had found in a box on the way back from town when they were nine and adopted. He passed Tubbo’s silent (They’re _hibernating_ Tommy, not dead.) beehives and made his way onto the trail that led to town. The walk was several hours, and his dad had only started allowing him to make the trip himself the year before. 

Tommy hummed as he walked, a song that Wilbur had written. Occasionally he stepped on a fallen leaf and enjoyed the crunching sound. More often though he was slightly disappointed when the leaf just crumpled, too old to be stiff. His dad was right, fall was drawing to a close and soon enough there would be snow. They’d already had some flurries and light dustings of it, which was why Techno was so adamant about harvesting as many potatoes as he could before winter fully set in and made it impossible. Tommy spared a glance at the sky, hardly a cloud to be seen, he should be able to make it to the town and back without any snow. 

He was wrong, the snow started to fall just as the town came into sight around a bend in the trail. Tommy swore and looked between the town and the way home. _It should be fine, it’s just a little snow. Besides, Techno would probably be disappointed and he might tell Dad about when I told Tubbo that—_ Tommy huffed and leveled his shoulders towards the town. _I’m a Big Man, I can handle a little snow._

The snow had grown much heavier by the time Tommy was leaving the town. It was starting to get dark, too. Tommy had hoped that he would be home by sundown, but that was impossible now. First he’d had to sell all the potatoes, then Techno’s… Friend? Enemy? Rival? He wasn’t quite sure what their relationship was. Either way, Squid had stopped him and given him a long message to deliver to Techno, for some reason after telling him the message Squid decided that he wouldn’t be able to remember it and spent ten minutes finding paper and ink to write it down, then _another twenty_ minutes actually writing the message. Then he’d had to wait because of some lady harassing the entire market about bread, _then_ he’d been stopped by some women about how _amazing_ he was and of course Tommy would take the time to talk to his fans, especially if they were women. And before he knew it sundown had already passed. 

“You’re not planning on going out there are you?” Tommy looked to his left at the call. A couple feet away stood a man Tommy had never seen before, wearing strange white goggles over his eyes. He looked back to the path home, the snow was pretty deep,

“Of course I am, I gotta get back home,” the man scoffed,

“You’re not going out. C’mon kid, I’ll get you a room at the inn,”

“I’m not a kid!” Tommy protested, the man just waved his hand,

“Sure, whatever, but you’re not going out this late,”

“Oh yeah? Are you sure about that?” Tommy turned and began marching home. He only got a few steps before he was stopped by a heavy hand grabbing his shoulder. Tommy swallowed and looked to see the man gripping him tightly,

“You’re not going out this late, it’s dangerous. I’m going to get you a room at the inn and you’re going to stay there until morning, got it?” The man leaned in, Tommy nodded sharply, “Great!” the man let go and Tommy staggered away a few paces, “C’mon let’s go, my name’s George by the way.” the man trotted off happily into town and Tommy took a moment to steady his breathing and glance back towards home before following him. 

The two ate a quiet dinner in the main room of the inn, the only one’s there besides the innkeeper. “So, Gogy,” Tommy ignored his sputtered protests at the name, “what about the woods is so dangerous that I can’t go home?” 

George leveled the boy with a stare, the effects somehow both dampened and heightened by his ridiculous goggles, “There’s man-eating dreamons in the woods.” Tommy stared,

“What the fuck is a dreamon.” Some kind of animal, maybe?

“You’ve heard of demons, right?” Tommy nodded, “They’re similar, but more powerful, and with a taste for human flesh.” Tommy didn’t bother trying to hide his laughter.

“Ha! Of course they—of course they are! You almost had me there Gogy!” He descended into cackles as the man stared at him blankly.

“I’m not joking, they prowl during the night,”

“Yeah yeah sure thing Gogy. Thanks for the food but Big Man’s gotta get back home, see ya.” Tommy stood and froze when George’s hand latched on to his wrist. 

“You’re not going outside, I’m going to escort you to the room I’ve gotten you for the night and you’re going to sleep there. Then in the morning you’re going to head home, got it?” Tommy ignored the frantic beating of his heart and the voice in the back of his mind that screamed _Danger! Danger! Run! Flee!_ He pulled his wrist from George’s hand with a nod and grabbed the key the innkeeper had given him from the table. He paused before he went up the stairs,

“If these dreamons are so dangerous, couldn’t they just come inside?” 

“Sure, but the dreamon hunters kill them,”

“So why can’t I just go home if they keep us _so_ safe?”

“They can protect you better if you stay inside, it’s easier to protect a settlement than someone wandering around in the woods. Go to sleep.” Tommy went up the stairs. He unlocked his door to reveal a small room with a single bed. He immediately made his way to the window over the bed and slid it open. He tossed his leg out and balanced himself for a moment before pulling his other leg out. Before Tommy could try to situate himself his foot slipped on the frosty wood, and he tumbled to the ground below.

Luckily, the snow piling up served to soften his fall as well as muffle it. Tommy staggered to his feet and glanced around to make sure no one had noticed him. It didn’t seem like anyone had, so he made his way back to the edge of town. It was darker now, and the trees that he’d passed earlier seemed far more ominous after what the man had told him. But Tommy wasn’t scared, of course he wasn’t. He was a Big Man and there was no way he was going to let some stupid story scare him. But maybe he could tell his Dad all about the creepy man and his Dad would get worried and make him some hot chocolate. That would be nice. With a slight spring in his step Tommy headed off towards home. 

The trek home had taken longer than he’d thought it would. The sun was just starting to rise when Tubbo’s beehives came into view. He sped up a little, a yawn overtaking him for a moment. Maybe walking through the night hadn’t been the best idea, but he hadn’t wanted to spend more time than necessary with that weird man, and besides, he hadn’t seen a _single_ man-eating dreamon on his way home, so that just made the man even weirder. Tommy trotted past the fence and Techno’s potato fields, making his way to the front door. Oddly enough the door was wide open, but someone had probably just forgotten to close it. Tommy ignored that he hadn’t seen anyone outside. 

“I’m home,” he called, “I’m sure you were all very lonely without me, ‘ _Oh Tommy where were you? We could hardly function without—”_ Wilbur stared up at him from the floor, his eyes wide and blank. Iron filled Tommy’s nose at the red staining the wood below him.

“Wilbur?” Wilbur didn’t blink, “C’mon Big Man, get up,” Tommy crouched down next to him, his hands fluttering uselessly, “This isn’t funny.” Wilbur _didn’t blink._ “Haha you got me. Look at Tommy crying haha. Jokes over Wilbur get up.” _Wilbur didn’t blink._

Tommy screamed. He didn’t stop screaming. Not when he turned his head to the side _just so_ and saw into the kitchen where his Dad lay next to an overturned stool, his hat fallen off his head, reaching out towards him, towards Wilbur, with his last breath. He didn’t stop screaming when he found Techno hunched over Tubbo, sheltering him until the end.

He stopped screaming when he realized Tubbo was still warm, still breathing. 

Tommy had to move fast. He pulled Techno off Tubbo, wincing at how limp he was. He grabbed Techno’s cloak and tied it around Tubbo’s shoulders to keep him warm. He stole Wilbur’s beanie from his room and pulled it down around Tubbo’s ears (He remembered his Dad telling him that a person’s head lost heat the fastest.). He hesitated for a moment outside the kitchen, eventually gathering the courage to snatch up his Dad’s green and white hat and shove it onto his own head. He hefted Tubbo’s limp—but still warm, still breathing—body onto his back and ran as fast as he could. 

Tommy ran past Techno’s potato field flinching at the mirage of his brother hard at work. Past the fence where the sound of Wilbur strumming his guitar taunted him. Past the silent beehives where he could still feel the buzzing of papery wings against his skin as Tubbo laughed. Where Dad would call them back in for dinner with a warm smile. _Where he didn’t have to worry about not getting Tubbo to a healer fast enough._

“It’ll be fine Tubbo,” he panted, he’d been running for what felt like hours and the lack of sleep was getting to him. “I’ll get you to town and a healer will fix you right up.” He stumbled slightly over a fallen branch hidden by the snow. Tubbo shifted on his back and he heard a slight noise.

“It’s okay Tubbo, I’ve got you.” his pace had slowed considerably. Tubbo shifted again on his back and he heard a low rumble. “I know it hurts Tubbo, don’t worry, I’ll get you to town.” Tubbo shifted wildly on his back and another hidden branch caused Tommy to let out a shriek as he tumbled down a hill.

“Tubbo?!” he looked around frantically, he’d lost Tubbo when he fell and—there he was. Tubbo was standing, Wilbur’s beanie almost fallen from his head and Techno’s cape close to slipping. “There you are,” Tommy relaxed, “It’s okay, you don’t have to walk, I’ll carry you to town.” 

Tubbo _moved._ He moved far faster than Tommy had seen him go before, as he lunged towards Tommy. Tommy fell back into the snow with a shout, holding back Tubbo’s gnashing teeth. He pulled the red scarf off his neck and used it to try and gag his brother. Tubbo’s sharpened teeth clashed around the fabric of the scarf. Wait… sharpened teeth?

Tommy’s mind flashed back to the man from the day before. _Man-eating dreamons._ But that wasn’t possible. Tubbo couldn’t be a dreamon. Not after all this time, not after almost half of Tommy’s life. Not after birthdays and days spent collecting honey and sitting by the fire while their Dad made hot chocolate and Wilbur played his guitar and Techno read them stories of heroes long dead. Not after the tears they’d both shed when their Mom died.

Tommy remembered when he’d first met Tubbo. His Dad had come home later than usual that day, with a tiny little boy clutching at his robes. His Mom and Dad had had a whispered conversation in the kitchen while Tommy sat with his brothers and the stranger. Wilbur had asked the kid his name, the boy had blinked at them before telling them, so quietly that Tommy had to lean in to hear, that his name was Tubbo. 

Tommy didn’t remember much from when he was that young, but he remembered how Tubbo would sleep under the bed clutching a stick of dark oak wood like it would protect him from all the horrors of the night, how he’d always try to fade into the background. How he’d _worked_ to bring him out of his shell. How he’d felt the first time Tubbo smiled and called him his brother.

No, Tubbo had always been human to Tommy. Tubbo couldn’t have killed their family. Even if the sharpened teeth and the horns steadily peeking out from beneath Tubbo’s hair screamed otherwise, Tommy would always believe in Tubbo.

“Tubbo, hang on, you gotta hang on. C’mon I know this isn’t you Big T.” Tommy felt tears welling in his eyes. “I know it has to hurt Tubbo, but you have to hang on.”

A tear landed on Tommy’s cheek. He saw Tubbo, eyes wide and glowing with fear. For a moment, he saw his brother. Then he saw the glint of a sword and shoved Tubbo to the side. 

A puff of snow erupted as a man in green landed a few feet from where the brothers had rolled. Tommy cradled Tubbo in his arms, his brother’s eyes were closed, and his horns were gone. Tommy looked to the man in front of him. He was wearing a green hoodie and had a strange smiley face mask. What really caught Tommy’s attention, though, was the purple sword the man held in his hands.

“What do you think you’re doing, kid?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a reason I didn't tag SBI.
> 
> Words: 2605


	2. Rest Easy, You Child of Sin

Tommy stared at the creepy man. The creepy man stared back. “I’m not a kid.” The man scoffed,

“Sure thing, kid, why are you protecting that dreamon?” The man pointed his sword at Tubbo and Tommy scowled as he pulled him closer.

“He’s not a dreamon, he’s my brother,”

“He’s been infected, it’s only a matter of time before his craving for human flesh becomes overpowering,”

“Then I’ll cure him.” The man growled,

“Don’t be stupid, that  _ thing _ is a danger to every human it comes close to, and if you can’t see that then you’re blind.” Before Tommy could react the man had moved closer and his sword had pierced Tubbo’s skin. Tommy lunged at the man with a feral shout. 

The sword came up. Tommy recognized the defensive movement, training with Te—training came in handy. He moved under the man's arm and brought his head up to knock into the man’s chin. Instead he hit the harsh material of his mask, disorienting him long enough for the man to swing the butt of his sword into Tommy’s temple. 

Tubbo opened his eyes. He didn’t remember much, just pain and fear and _ hunger. _ But he saw Tommy. He saw Tommy laying at the feet of a man dressed in green. The hunger was replaced with a violent urge to  _ protect how dare he hurt him _ and Tubbo pounced to cover Tommy’s body with his own. He heard a guttural growl and pressed closer to Tommy to protect him from whatever was approaching. It was then that he realized the growl was coming from himself. The growling stopped for a moment before starting back up again. He wouldn’t let this man hurt Tommy, he wouldn’t let him take all that he had left. 

The man leveled his sword at Tubbo, “Get off of him, dreamon.” No. Tubbo would not do that.

“I won’t let you hurt him,” Tubbo growled, surprising himself with the feral rasp in his voice. The man tilted his head, the smiling mask hiding his thoughts.

“You’re protecting him?”

“He’s my brother, I won’t let you hurt him,”

“Hm,” the man sheathed his sword. Tubbo felt his body relax against his will, not even noticing the instinctual fear of that dark purple metal until it was gone. “Interesting, you haven’t had human blood yet, right?” 

Tubbo flinched back for a moment before moving back to cover Tommy. “No, I’m human.”

“You aren’t. Maybe you’re not far enough gone to be bloodthirsty, but you’re still a dreamon.” Tubbo shuddered. He remembered his father panting as he carried him through the woods, it was dark and something was chasing him. He’d found an empty box and fit Tubbo inside, surrounding the box with some of their precious few sticks of dark oak wood. He remembered  _ Stay in here Duckling. Just stay in here until someone comes and gets you okay? Stay in here and stay quiet, Duckling.  _ Tubbo had nodded, his father had kissed his forehead before closing the top of the box and heading to guide their pursuer away. 

Tubbo had stayed in the box for a long time, he didn’t know how long but by the time someone found him he was hungry and thirsty and so, so scared. He’d heard footsteps come near, shoved his hands over his mouth so he wouldn’t make any noise, and listened as the footsteps paused, before starting to come closer. 

The box had opened, and Tubbo had nearly been blinded by the harsh sunlight, hearing a gasp as a man moved to block the light. Tubbo squinted up at his savior, a blond man wearing a green and white bucket hat. 

Phil hadn’t asked many questions, just his name and if he had family to stay with. Tubbo thought of his father running away, thought of the claws and teeth of their pursuer, and shaken his head. Phil had smiled, said that was okay, and brought him home. 

Tubbo had slept under the bed clutching dark oak wood to his chest until Techno had shown him his sword and promised that he’d kill anything that tried to hurt him. Neither of them had known that his sword wouldn’t do anything against a dreamon.

A crunching of snow drew Tubbo’s attention away from his memories. From behind the green man another man with large white goggles emerged from the trees.

“Dream have you seen Sap—Oh,” The new man blinked at the hunched form of Tubbo and Tommy. “Hello there. I’m George.” Tubbo looked between the two, eyeing the sheathed sword hanging from George’s belt.

“I’m Tubbo,”

“He’s a dreamon,” Dream supplied,

“No I’m  _ not _ ,” The two ignored him,

“Is he… y’know…”

“I think so, he seems pretty keen on protecting the other one, and I don’t think he’s had any blood,” 

“And I don’t  _ want _ any because I’m  _ human,” _ he froze at the soft groan from beneath him, “Tommy?”

“Tubbo…?” Tommy’s eyes cracked open, squinting against the light, “Where are we?” 

“Uh, the woods?” Tubbo scrambled so he was no longer on top of Tommy, instead crouching between him and the two men. 

“Oh, why?”

“Because your brother’s a dreamon,” Dream said, Tubbo glared at him and fought back the urge to  _ bite claw feed _ punch the man.

“No he’s not,” Tommy said, and now Tubbo was fighting back a smile.

“He sure seemed like one when he was trying to bite your throat out.” Tubbo flinched, he felt Tommy press up against him and he leaned into the warmth.

“He wasn’t trying to bite my throat out, he was just scared.” Tubbo nodded pressing his cheek into Tommy’s shoulder. Now that he thought about it, Tommy must be cold. Tubbo had Techno’s cloak on, for some reason, and he could feel the warmth of a beanie on his head, but Tommy’s scarf was lying in the snow, and their Dad’s hat was about to fall off of his head.

“Hey Tommy, why are you wearing Dad’s hat?” Tommy’s hand reached up to feel his head,

“Uh… Tubbo,” Tubbo hummed, “Do you remember what happened last night?” he nodded, “So you know that—” Tommy’s voice started to crack and Tubbo wrapped his arms around him. The urge to  _ feed _ was present, but he felt slightly ill at the thought and pushed it aside. “You’re know that D-Dad and Wilbur and—and Techno are—that they’re—”

“I know Tommy,” He knew that once again his family had been taken from him by dreamons. He knew that Tommy was all he had left. He knew that he would not let the two men separate them, even if something inside him shook at the thought of the purple sword that the masked man bore. 

George cleared his throat. Tubbo wanted to ignore him but Tommy looked up at the sound, “Sooo, you  _ don’t _ want to go on a murderous rampage and eat people?”

“No, of course not,” Tubbo wrinkled his nose, “That sounds gross.” Even if a small part of him salivated at the thought. He reminded himself of Techno’s bleeding body sheltering him, the small part winced away enough for Tubbo to ignore it.

“Oh!” George grinned, “So he’s like you Dream.” The two boys shifted to stare at said masked man.

“... It’s possible,” 

“You’re a dreamon?” Tubbo chirped,

“He’s a dreamon named Dream,” Tommy snorted,

“Even better, he’s Dream the dreamon dreamon hunter.” Tubbo grinned at the smile making its way onto Tommy’s face and the soft laughter coming from George. 

“Yes, very funny, my name is Dream and I’m a dreamon that hunts dreamons. Ha. Ha. Ha.” Tubbo descended into giggles, the shivering panic that had held itself in his chest since he’d seen Tommy lying in the snow manifesting itself into a shrill laugh.

Tubbo’s chest hurt, so he stopped laughing. Tommy’s arm was flung over his shoulder protectively. For a moment he smelled the thick, cloying scent of Techno’s blood, felt his weight press over him as they both bled. 

“So what now?” Oh right, he was with Tommy.

“Well,” Dream sighed, “since it seems like you aren’t going to go crazy, it depends. You can either try to live a normal life or become a hunter like us.” He gestured to himself and George.

“Either way though,” George pointed at Tubbo, “ _ you _ will need to get some training so that we can make sure that your dreamon instincts won’t overpower you.” 

Tommy scoffed, “Well obviously they won’t, he’s  _ Tubbo.” _ Tubbo couldn’t be sure but he thought Dream was rolling his eyes under his mask.

“Sure, you need to get to Manberg. We’d escort you but…” Dream turned to George and muttered something, George shrugged, Dream sighed and turned back to the two boys, “Yeah we can’t escort you. We can give you directions and if you aren’t there in, hm, a week? A week sounds good. If you aren’t at Manberg in a week we’ll assume you’re either dead or you’ve gone feral, and we’ll track you down.” 

“Great, glad we’ve gotten that settled,” George looked behind himself to the trees, “C’mon Dream, we’ve gotta find Sapnap before he burns down another forest.”

“Yeah yeah, I’m coming. Here,” Dream rifled through his pockets for a moment before pulling out a folded piece of paper, “A map to Manberg. See you there, kids.” The two ignored Tommy’s yelled protests at not being a child and walked off into the woods. Tubbo hesitated for a moment, before reluctantly pulling away from Tommy’s warmth to pick up the piece of paper. 

Tommy shivered when he moved away and he pressed back into him as soon as he’d grabbed the paper, adjusting Techno’s cloak to cover both of them as best as he could. He unfolded the map to reveal that it was, shockingly, a map. Tubbo squinted at the paper, trying to orient himself. He knew Tommy wouldn’t be any help, Techno and their Dad had tried teaching him how to read a compass when they were ten, but Tommy hadn’t understood it and just insisted that the directions were either left or right. He recognized the mountains south of the town, but the town itself wasn’t marked on the map. He searched for Manberg, wordlessly pulling Tommy closer when he shivered again. 

_ Where is it, where is it, there. _ Manberg didn’t seem far, two or three days if they didn’t stop. But they’d need to prepare. And they’d need to—they’d need to bury their family. “C’mon Tommy, let’s go, it’s too cold to stay out here without a jacket.” Tubbo pulled Tommy to his feet and wrapped the fallen scarf around his neck. He adjusted their Dad’s hat on Tommy’s head and started the trek back home, gently pulling Tommy along by his hand. After a few minutes he paused, pulling off Techno’s cloak and wrapping it around Tommy instead.

Tommy needed it more. After all, dreamons were hardier than humans. 

It didn’t take long to get home. Tommy had been running, but he’d been exhausted and carrying Tubbo. Said boy was nearly asleep as he walked, leaning heavily onto Tubbo as they passed the beehives.

Tubbo stopped before they entered the house. Tommy made a questioning noise and looked up at him blearily. And Tubbo… Tubbo didn’t want Tommy to see their family. He knew he had to have already, but he shouldn’t have to go through that. Tubbo could do it, he’d lost another family before this one. Grief was something that welcomed him like an old friend, it surrounded him like the walls of the cardboard box had when he was nine. Tommy hadn’t been able to look at the body of their shared mother, Tubbo didn’t want him to see their Dad and brothers any more than he already had. 

Tubbo silently drew the scarf from Tommy’s neck and wrapped it around his eyes, gently tying a knot in the back of his head. 

“Mm?” Tommy yawned, hands reaching up to pull down the makeshift blindfold before being pushed away by Tubbo. 

“It’s okay Tommy, just keep it on for now.” The lack of protest pierced somewhere deep in his chest before being overshadowed by the need to get to work. He guided Tommy into the house, carefully avoiding Wilbur’s body splayed out in the hallway. Tubbo left Tommy in their shared bedroom, adding Wilbur’s beanie to the items he was wearing. He didn’t want to get it dirty by accident.

Tubbo had never seen his first father’s body but he remembered what his second Dad had done after the death of his mother four years ago. He needed to clean the blood off their bodies first. He got rags and some water from the bathroom, gathering snow outside to melt and make into more water. 

He started with his Dad, the least bloody of the three. The blood in his hair and on the floor told him enough about what happened. The arm reaching for Wilbur’s body let him know that it hadn’t been instant. He wet the rag and began gently wiping the blood away from his Dad’s face, it was harder to get the blood out of his hair, but Tubbo managed.

Wilbur was next, his blood stained the floor. Tubbo quietly hummed one of Wilbur’s songs as he cleaned the ragged claw marks tracing his chest. Wilbur’s clothes were bloody, he’d have to change him out of them. Techno too, probably. His Dad wasn’t bloody enough to need it, but he’d do it anyway. 

Tubbo hesitated before he went into the living room, where Techno was. The two had been sitting there when the front door had blown open. They’d heard Wilbur scream before being abruptly silenced. Techno had jumped to his feet and grabbed his sword from where it rested next to the couch. They’d heard their Dad fall, if he made a noise it wasn’t loud enough for them to hear.

Techno had positioned himself in front of Tubbo, lunging for the intruder as soon as it entered the room. Tubbo barely caught a glimpse of sharpened teeth and long claws before he was remembering. Remembering a small box and his father calling him Duckling and a stick of dark oak wood that he’d left abandoned in a drawer for years. It was stupid of him, to think he could leave his past behind in the dirt where it lay buried.

Techno’s sword hadn’t done anything against the dreamon. Once he realized that he’d cast it aside. He’d pulled Tubbo under him and curled up on the ground. Tubbo hadn’t even been hurt that badly, just a cut on his stomach that bled enough for him to get infected, Techno’s body had sheltered him from the worst of the damage, the damage that Techno had taken for himself. Tubbo owed Techno his life, and he would never be able to repay that debt.

But he could do this much. Tubbo could clean his brother’s wounds. He could rebraid his hair so it wasn’t messed up from fighting. He could replace the bloodied clothing of his Dad and brothers. He could make sure Tommy didn’t see the bodies until he was done. Tubbo would do what he could, and he did.

-

Tubbo worked until the sun was high in the sky, he’d dug out three graves right next to their Mom’s. He couldn’t carve any headstones, but he had gathered rocks to make grave markers. He had checked on Tommy after an hour, he’d fallen asleep where Tubbo left him, the blindfold still on. Now it was past midday, Tubbo was hungry and tired but apparently becoming a dreamon did wonders for a person's athletic abilities since he’d managed to dig three graves in only a few hours. 

Tubbo needed to wake up Tommy, they needed to eat, then they needed to have a funeral for their family. Then they would prepare to leave in the morning.

So Tubbo found some potatoes that Techno had harvested but hadn’t sent into town with Tommy, he put them on the furnace and went into his and Tommy’s bedroom. He almost felt bad about waking him, he looked calm in his sleep. But Tommy needed to eat, and so Tubbo woke him.

“Mn? Tubbo?” Tommy shifted, he saw his brow furrow beneath the blindfold, “Why can’t I—” Tommy pulled the scarf off of his face, squinting at Tubbo. He looked down at the scarf, before his eyes caught on Techno’s cloak wrapped around his shoulders. “Oh. It wasn’t a dream, then.”

“No,” Tubbo said, “It wasn’t.” The two stared at each other for a moment before Tommy got to his feet,

“Well Big T, what are we doing now?” Tubbo could see the strain behind Tommy’s smile. He chose to ignore it, if Tommy wanted to maintain a sense of normality he could. He guided Tommy into the kitchn, there was blood on the floor but both of them avoided looking at it. Tubbo took the potatoes out of the furnace and handed one to Tommy, they ate quietly. Once Tubbo was done he cleared his throat,

“We should bury them today, I’ve dug the graves already.” Tommy winced, before nodding, 

“Are we going to… Manberg?”

“I think we should. If they can help me with… this, then I think it could be good.” Tommy nodded again, Tubbo wished he would protest.

-

They didn’t say much during the funeral, no speeches needed between them. They each took a moment with their brothers and Dad. Tubbo didn’t know what Tommy said to them, but he thanked them. He thanked Phil for being kind to him when the world wasn’t. He thanked Wilbur for being beside him when he felt alone. And most of all he thanked Techno for saving him, saving him so that he could help Tommy.

They left for Manberg the next morning. Tubbo wrapped Techno’s cloak around Tommy's shoulders and his scarf around his neck. He pulled Wilbur’s beanie down over Tommy’s hair before gently placing their Dad’s hat on his own head. He would have given it to Tommy and taken the beanie, but he didn’t want to risk Tommy seeing the small horns just barely covered by his own hair.

He didn’t want to remind Tommy that he wasn’t human anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why is dialogue so hard.
> 
> Words: 3049


	3. Onward Towards Manberg

Tommy followed Tubbo during their trip to Manberg. He didn’t know what direction they were heading, but Tubbo seemed convinced that the map would get them there. Tommy had tried looking at it, but Tubbo had gotten annoyed as soon as he’d said that they needed to go left. He’d said something about ‘Northwest’, but that didn’t make any sense. Whatever, Tubbo was the one who’d understood their Dad’s navigation lessons the best, so Tommy would just follow him. 

They would straight walk through the days, only breaking for 30 minutes around midday before continuing on until night. The pace was tiring, but the constant movement kept Tommy from thinking too hard about what had happened, so he didn’t complain. Besides, Tubbo had gone through worse and he was the one setting the pace. It was better this way, Tubbo wanted to get to Manberg as soon as possible and Tommy would always follow Tubbo. 

They made it to Manberg in four days. It wasn’t a town, like Tommy had thought it might be. It was more of a small settlement, maybe even an old fort if he was being generous. There weren’t any walls around it, but Tommy could see the remains of where they had once existed. From his position on top of a hill overlooking Manberg he could see several main buildings, with scattered smaller ones around them. There were a few towers along the edges, though they looked like they had been built intentionally instead of just leftover guard towers for the now-missing walls. 

Tommy and Tubbo paused to overlook the area, sitting on an old wooden bench at the top of the hill. He enjoyed the moment, he didn’t think he’d get many more like it for a while. After a bit they stood up and began trudging down the hill towards Manberg. The grass was damp, Tommy didn’t know why, it hadn’t rained since they’d begun traveling, and it made an ugly squeaking noise as they walked. 

An arrow sank into the ground a foot in front of them. Tommy’s eyes shot to their surroundings, tugging Tubbo behind him.

“That was a warning shot,” a voice called from the top of one of the towers. Tommy squinted against the glare from the sun. There. A figure was leaning over the top of the smallest of the towers, one made of gray stone. He could see the bow clasped in their hands, though it was hard to make out details with the distance.

“Who the fuck do you think you are buddy?! Shooting at us! Huh? Huh?” Tommy exploded. It felt like all the emotions that he’d kept locked up under the simple need to get to Manberg had just erupted from under his skin. It felt good to be angry. He continued ranting even as another arrow thudded near him,

“If you don’t shut up then I’ll actually shoot you, kid,” the voice yelled. 

“I’m not a kid!”

“Um, excuse me?” Tubbo stepped out slightly from behind Tommy, “My name’s Tubbo and this is Tommy. Uh, a guy named Dream told us to come here?” 

There was silence from the tower and Tommy stopped yelling for a moment to better hear what was happening.

“Ok, I’m coming down,” the figure turned away from the edge of the tower and after a minute or two Tommy saw it coming towards them from around the side. The figure was a man, wearing a black jacket with multi-colored stripes on it. He also had a hat perched on his head. Oddly enough the hat rested against a pair of fox ears. “Hey sorry for the arrows, can never be too careful around here, my name’s Fundy.” The man offered his hand,

“Why do you have fox ears?” Tommy blurted out, Tubbo made a choked noise next to him,

“Tommy you can’t just ask why—”

“No no, it’s fine,” Fundy sighed, “I get it a lot. Honestly I’ve just had them for as long as I can remember.”

Tommy wrinkled his nose, “That’s weird,”

“Yeah, I know,” Fundy dropped his unshaken hand and turned around, “Come on in, we’ve been expecting you.” 

“That’s not ominous at all,” Tubbo muttered. Tommy snickered and the two followed Fundy past the tower and into Manberg. 

Tommy didn’t see many people as they made their way to the center of Manberg. In fact he only saw one person, a man with sunglasses carrying a load of stone in a cart who waved at them as they passed.

“That’s Eret,” Fundy said, “My Dad.” Tommy looked between the two, Eret didn’t seem much older than Fundy.

“So uh, he must have had you pretty young?” Tubbo said, scratching his head,

“What?” Fundy seemed confused, “Oh, no, I’m adopted.”

“Oh!” Tubbo chirped, “That’s nice!” They fell into silence again as Fundy guided them through the empty streets. Lucky Manberg was small so it didn’t take them long to get to where they were going, the center. 

The center of Manberg was a large podium with seating in front of it, on the podium stood Dream and a man with ram horns wearing a suit. The pair’s arms were moving as they apparently had a very animated conversation. Tubbo winced and moved behind him. He was probably scared of Dream, the man had tried to kill him after all. But Tommy wasn’t scared, he was a Big Man and he would protect Tubbo from anyone that tried to hurt him. In the seating George was laying across three seats looking up at the sky, well actually, no, with his goggles resting on his forehead Tommy could see that George’s eyes were very much closed. Next to George a man with a white bandana wrapped around his head fiddled with a lighter.

The horned man spun from Dream to face them, “You two must be Tommy and Tubbo, It’s great to finally meet you. Dream here has been telling me all about what happened, haven’t you Dream?” Dream crossed his arms and didn’t respond, “My name is J. Schlatt, I’m the President of Manberg.”

“I-I didn’t know Manberg had a president,” Tubbo stuttered, pulling their Dad’s hat down more onto his head.

“Well I’m in charge of the dreamon hunters that call this place home, so President seems like an appropriate title, don’t you think,” Tommy didn’t like Schlatt, even from the bottom of the podium he could see a strange glint in his eyes that made him uneasy. 

“So kid I gotta, ask,” Schlatt looked at Tubbo, “Dream here tells me that you’re a dreamon.”

“Um, yeah. That’s—that’s true. I got, um, I got attacked by one and infected.” Tubbo fidgeted, pressing slighting behind Tommy,

“But you’ve got no bloodlust? None whatsoever?” Tommy turned his head to look at Tubbo. No one had really explained to him what a dreamon was yet. He got that they were dangerous, and that Tubbo was one now, but Tubbo hadn’t mentioned any sort of craving for violence in the days they’d been travelling. 

“Oh, no, I don’t. I don’t want that.” Tommy tried not to let anything show on his face, glad he’d turned away slightly from the others. He could tell that Tubbo was scared by the way he lightly tugged on his sleeves. He could tell Tubbo was lying by the way his eyes cast downward and focused on a random piece of the ground. But why would Tubbo—Oh. Tubbo didn’t trust these people, not like Tommy did either. He probably thought that things would go bad if people knew that he had any sort of bloodlust. Which was a strange thing to think about. Tubbo? Craving violence? It just didn’t fit with the boy he knew. George’s voice flashed through his mind, man-eating dreamons. But it had been five days since Tubbo became a dreamon and he’d displayed no sign of wanting to kill and eat Tommy. So, as he’d made the choice to do so often recently, Tommy would trust Tubbo. 

“Really? That’s interesting. Even our buddy Dream here has to work through his bloodlust every once and a while. The fact that you have none,” Schlatt grinned, “Well, that’s certainly strange.” 

“Oh, um, I just, I just don’t want to hurt anyone. I don’t know why I’m different,” 

“Oh I’m sure you don't,” Schlatt waved his hand, “But don’t worry about it, we’ll get you some training to make sure that if that bloodlust ever does pop up you can contain it, and we’ll figure out what makes you different.” After a few more words Schlatt dismissed them and Fundy began to lead them to where they’d be staying.

“You’ll be sleeping in Niki’s house for tonight, we can move you somewhere else later if you want but she’s the only one prepared for guests at the moment,” Fundy opened the door to one of the smaller buildings, a wooden sign proclaiming it to be ‘Niki’s Bakery’, “Hey Niki! The kids that the Dream Team found are here!”

“I’m not a kid!” Tommy yelled as a blonde woman emerged from a door behind the counter, wiping flour off her hands.

“Oh! Hello, My name’s Niki. You’re… Tommy and Tubbo, right?”

“Yes ma’am,” Tommy felt his anger deflate at Tubbo’s small smile, “I’m Tubbo, this is Tommy. Fundy said that we’ll be staying with you tonight?”

“Of course you can, I’ve got a spare room upstairs. Only one, though, so the two of you will have to share,”

“That’s fine.” They hadn’t stepped more than a foot away from each other the entire time they’d been in Manberg and Tommy wasn’t about to change that. Niki smiled softly at them and went back into, presumably, her kitchen while Fundy led them up to the spare room.

The room was simple, a double bed in the center with a chair in the corner. A window illuminated the room to show the knitting blanket thrown over the back of the chair. Tommy put his bag down on top of the bed, it didn’t have much in it, a single change of clothes and some supplies for travelling. Tommy flopped down next to it with a thump, he was tired. Tubbo smiled softly at him and looked back to Fundy,

“Thank you for helping us,”

“Yeah, of course. I…” Fundy hesitated, casting a look out the door, “Listen, just, be careful around Schlatt, yeah? It’s usually not a good thing for him to get so interested in someone so soon.” Fundy left before either of the two could say anything. Tubbo turned to stare at Tommy, who looked back at him from his position on the bed.

“Well,” Tubbo sat down on the bed, it bounced a bit at the motion and he scooted to lay down next to Tommy, “what do we do now?”

“I don’t know Big T,” Tommy sighed, “I don’t know if anyone here is trustworthy but I definitely don’t trust Schlatt, he was looking at you weird.”

“Yeah, he scared me.” Tommy wrapped Tubbo into a hug,

“Why didn’t you tell me about your bloodlust?” Tubbo tensed and started to pull away, “I’m not mad or anything, I just want to know why.”

Tubbo stayed tense, “I don’t want you to be afraid of me, ever,”

“Pfft, you think I’d be scared of you? Tubbo you literally can’t even hurt a bee,”

“I know but… I’m not human anymore.” Tommy pulled Tubbo closer,

“That doesn’t matter, you’re still Tubbo, got it? You’re still my brother, and I’ll never be afraid of you.” Tubbo relaxed, and the two drifted off to sleep. Later, Niki would wake them, they’d talk about what training would be like, how long they’d be staying, and who else lived in Manberg. They’d eat the best food they’d had in nearly a week. But that was later. For now, the two slept.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Words: 1983


	4. What Couldn't Be

Tubbo trained. He worked with Dream on harnessing his new dreamon abilities. Bad, another dreamon who lived and worked in Manberg, helped him with meditation to ignore the bloodlust they still didn’t know he had. It was easier to control it when Tommy was around, but Tommy couldn’t always be with him. After training he would help Niki in the bakery, silently earning their keep so that she wouldn’t have a reason to kick him and Tommy out. 

While he trained Tommy did as well. Learning archery from Fundy, practicing his sparring with George and Sapnap, the man with the white bandana. Sometimes Eret would sit them down and teach them the history of Manberg. How it was originally a haven for dreamons who didn’t want violence, a place where humans and dreamons mingled as equals called L’Manberg. After Schlatt had come into power he had made the settlement more militarized, training forces to go outside the walls and hunt down violent dreamons, until he removed the walls. Every night Tubbo and Tommy would talk before bed, discussing what had happened during the day and what their next steps were. Tommy wanted to join Manberg and hunt dreamons while Tubbo just wanted to go back to as normal of a life as they could. They knew no matter what they chose they would do it together.

Throughout it all Schlatt watched them and Tubbo’s horns grew. They were still small enough that he could hide them under his Dad’s hat, but within a week of reaching Manberg they’d grown large enough for Tommy to notice them when they settled down for bed. 

They hadn’t spoken about the horns beyond a whispered reassurance from Tommy that he didn’t care and that Tubbo would always be his brother. It helped more than Tubbo thought it would. They did talk about Schlatt though. They talked about how scared they felt when he watched them, how sometimes his eyes were a glaring red.

It was frightening, but they couldn’t talk to anyone else about it. They’d tried speaking to Fundy, but all he would say is that Schlatt had eyes everywhere and that it wasn’t a good idea to get on his bad side. So they tried to avoid doing that, but it was pretty hard when they knew absolutely nothing about the man. All they knew was that he’d come into L’Manberg one day, suddenly taken charge, then renamed the settlement, tore down the walls, and started turning the people into hunters. They trained and kept their heads down and hoped that’d be enough.

It came to a head when Bad burst into Tubbo’s training session with Dream two months after they reached Manberg. The dreamon panted, white eyes glowing, “I need your help, Quakity’s—Quakity’s doing something and I don’t know what.” Quakity was another member of Manberg, Schlatt’s right hand man. He wasn’t that much older than Tommy and Tubbo actually, but they rarely got the change to talk to him. Tubbo thought that Quakity was pretty similar to Tommy, from what little interaction they’d had, but it was strange that he was causing a problem big enough for Bad to come and get Dream. 

Dream looked at Bad for a moment before looking towards Tubbo, not for the first time Tubbo hated how his mask hid his expression. “Come on Tubbo, let’s go see what’s happening, don’t forget your mask.” Tubbo hurried to put it on, his mask was really just Tommy’s scarf that had been cut up so that Tubbo could wear it as a mask. Apparently dreamons could go a bit crazy if they ever tasted human blood, and the people of Manberg wanted to avoid Tubbo experiencing any bloodlust. That was also why Dream wore his mask, so he didn’t accidentally get any blood in his mouth when he was fighting. Tubbo had to wear the scarf whenever he was around any humans. He didn’t wear it when he was alone with Tommy, but the others didn’t know that.

The three dreamons hurried to the center of Manberg. Quakity was standing in the space between the podium and the seating. George was laying face down in the aisle, Tubbo didn’t see any blood.

“This is all your fault George! If it weren’t for you then Schlatt—” an explosion erupted from behind the podium, sending Quakity into shrieks as he tried to avoid the pieces of wood flying at him. “George this is all your fault!” he yelled again, George didn’t do anything to respond. Tubbo wasn’t sure if he was even conscious. 

“George!” Dream yelled, running for his friend. Bad also rushed over, pulling out the small first aid kit he usually kept on his person. Tubbo ran for Quakity, who was hiding behind a chair quietly muttering curses at George. 

“Quakity! What’s going on? Why is George on the ground? Why did the podium explode?!” Quakity looked up from is muttering, the fear in his eyes brought Tubbo to a halt a few feet away from him,

“This is all George’s fault!”

“George exploded the podium?”

“What? No, I don’t know how that happened. But if it wasn’t for George then Schlatt would never have—Schlatt would never have…” Quakity’s fear and anger melted into confusion he stared at where Dream and Bad were tending to George with a furrowed brow. “I can’t remember.” 

“Can’t remember what Quakity?” 

“I don’t—I don’t know! I was just following Schlatt around while we worked and George came up and started talking to him and suddenly I got really mad at George because he did something but I can’t remember what!” Quakity’s hands gripped at his hair, ”Tubbo why can’t I remember what happened?!”

“I don’t know,” Tubbo tried to keep his voice level past the panic infecting him, “Do you know where Schlatt is?” 

Quakity shook his head, “The last I remember we were outside the White House.” Tubbo nodded, the White House was one of the few holdovers from back when Manberg was L’Manberg, apparently created to be the leader’s home and workspace. Schlatt had taken it over when he became President, though Tubbo had heard from Eret that recently he’d been arguing with Quakity about taking it down. 

“Ok, stay here Quakity, I’ll go find Schlatt.” Tubbo turned and ran as soon as Quakity nodded. He may not like Schlatt, but if something had happened to him then Tubbo needed to help. 

Tubbo ran to grab Tommy first, he should have been training with George and Sapnap, clearly George wasn’t there but if Tubbo was lucky Sapnap and Tommy would be sparring together. And for once Tubbo was lucky. Tommy and Sapnap were locked in a battle with their swords, Tubbo couldn’t tell who was winning and he didn’t want to spare the time to find out,

“Tommy! Sapnap!” The two looked over to where Tubbo was running at them, quickly separating their swords and standing back.

“Big T! What’s up?” Tommy’s smile turned concerned when Tubbo got close enough for him to see his expression. 

“Sapnap, George is hurt by the podium—” Sapnap started running before Tubbo could finish his sentence, “—and I, oh. Tommy I need your help finding Schlatt, I’ll explain on the way.” Tommy grabbed Wilbur’s beanie and Techno’s cloak, which he’d taken off to spar, and followed Tubbo. 

Tubbo told Tommy what he’d seen as they ran around Manberg looking for Schlatt. Both were a bit worried about the horned man, if something had messed with Quakity’s memories then anything could have happened to Schlatt and they would have no clue what. 

They checked each area of Manberg in the order of where Schlatt was most likely to be. He wasn’t at the White House, or the podium, where George was still not responding and Quakity was curled up gripping his hair, not in the streets, not in any of the towers, not in Niki’s bakery, not in anyone’s house, in short, Schlatt wasn’t anywhere in Manberg and by the time the two boys had given up the search it was nearing dusk and George had woken up.

The entirety of Manberg gathered by the destroyed podium. Now that Tubbo was looking at all of them together, it really didn’t seem like that many people. Hardly any of them actually went out and fought dreamons either, how had Schlatt expected to make a single dent in the number out dreamons killing people? Regardless, George was up and able to answer their questions now.

“I don’t really remember what happened, I was just going to talk to Schlatt about that whole hotel thing he proposed, then my brain got all fuzzy and Quakity yelled and me and now I’m here.” George rubbed his head and Quakity winced,

“Yeah, sorry about that Gogy,” Many of the other members of Manberg had taken to calling George that, apparently Tommy had met him before and given him the nickname. 

“It’s fine, I guess, why’d you do it though?”

“I don’t remember honestly,” the two frowned at each other in confusion before Dream cut in,

“Alright, so neither of you remember what happened. Tubbo, Tommy, did you two find any sign of Schlatt?”

“No,” Tubbo frowned, “I’m sorry. He wasn’t anywhere in Manberg”

“It’s all right, we’ll just have to look outside of Manberg,”

“It’s getting dark,” Sapnap commented, looking up at the setting sun,

“Yep,” Dream turned his head towards Tubbo and Tommy, “I think the two are ready for a night run.” The two looked at each other for barely a second,

“You bet we are!” Tommy yelled, “We’re so talented, honestly I’ve just been expecting you to come up one day ‘Oh Tommy, we’re so overwhelmed by all the dreamons, you’ve got to help us!’ don’t you worry Big D, we’ve got this.” Tubbo smiled at Tommy’s antics, it’d taken him time to get back to his usual spunk. They still needed time to fully be back to normal, but it was easier now than it had been two months ago.

“Yeah sure,” Dream said, “Tommy, you and Tubbo will search the woods South of Manberg, Sapnap and I will search the North, Eret and Fundy search the West, Niki you search the East. George, Bad and Quakity stay here. There might be some lingering health effects and we need people in Manberg in case Schlatt shows back up. Got it? Good.” The group split, everyone rushing to grab weapons and armor. 

Tubbo didn’t need much armor, it would only slow him down. Instead he took a netherite sword and ensured his scarf wouldn’t slip if he got into a fight. Netherite was a new material to the two boys, extremely rare and one of the few things that could kill a dreamon. Tubbo pushed away the instinctive fear at being close to such a weapon and helped Tommy into his own netherite armor. Tubbo also made sure to grab some sticks of dark oak wood wrapped in cloth, if worse came to worse he could throw them at any dreamons that tried to hurt Tommy. 

They headed towards the South of Manberg in the quickly growing darkness. Tubbo led the way, straining his senses for any sign of the missing President. They walked, twitching at the slightest sound. Despite Tommy’s brave words earlier, Tubbo could practically see the tension that thrummed through his veins. 

Tubbo breathed, he had to focus. Bad had taught him how to suppress his dreamon instincts but if he leaned into them slightly he might be able to tell if Schlatt was close. He pushed past Tommy’s heart beat and extended his senses far enough that his head felt faint and he smelled peppermint.

there were humans in the woods humans whose blood would taste so delicious wetting his tongue humans whose screams would form a deadly melody in the dregs of their despair there was an intruder in the woods another one of his kind came to encroach on his territory and Tubbo shot off into the bushes. He ignored the yell and crashing noises of his brother. Tubbo needed to defeat the dreamon before it could hurt Tommy. He couldn’t let Tommy get hurt; he wouldn’t let another brother die. 

Tubbo left Tommy behind as he ran to chase down the dreamon, it wasn’t too far from Manberg, maybe half a mile. It was a rocky area, not in the South where he’d been sent to search, but more in the Northeast, in the grey area between where Niki was searching and Dream and Sapnap were looking. He passed Niki as he ran, he heard her yell out and heard her and Tommy speaking just before he was out of hearing range. He was impressed at the physical abilities being a dreamon had given him, he’d trained with Dream but they’d never really done much running. 

He made it to an open space where he could sense the dreamon, but he didn’t see anything. He stopped running, catching his breath and trying to extend his senses again to figure out where it was. He winced back from the sharp headache that erupted when he tried to reach beyond his human limits. 

There was slow clapping behind him. He turned. Schlatt was standing there, uninjured. “Schlatt?”

“The one and only. I’m impressed, Tubbo, you tap into your instincts well for someone that’s never trained them before.”

“Schlatt what are you doing here? There’s a dreamon,” 

Schlatt only laughed, “Oh but I guess I shouldn’t expect too much from you, especially not when Dream can’t even tell,”

“Dream can’t tell what?” Tubbo was starting to feel uneasy, he tried reaching out his senses, looking for where he’d left Tommy and Niki behind but the headache sparked again and he had to blink away the dots floating in his vision.

“Oh Tubbo, is it really so hard to tell that I’m a dreamon too? I mean, you’ve even got the same horns as me and you can’t tell?” Tubbo flinched, reaching up to pull his Dad’s hat down,

“You’re a—you’re a dreamon?” Tubbo was really starting to regret leaving Tommy and Niki behind. 

“Yes Tubbo, are you deaf or something? It’s almost like—oh nice to see you Dream. We’ve really got a little reunion going on here, don’t we?” Tubbo didn’t turn, he didn’t want to take his eyes off Schlatt for a second, but now that he was aware of it he could hear footsteps coming closer. 

“Schlatt, what’s this I hear about you being a dreamon?” 

“Uuuughhh,” Schlatt tossed his head back, “You’re both so boring. ‘Oh Schlatt’s a dreamon? How could this happen? How could we not know?’ You’re an idiot, and you’re an idiot and useless.” He pointed at Dream then Tubbo, Tubbo felt mildly offended. 

“Well, um, I think our confusion is—”

“God just shut up.” Tubbo shut up. He didn’t want to, but his mouth closed and wouldn’t open no matter how much he strained it. He felt his breathing quicken and his eyes widen. He could dimly hear Dream asking him if he was okay, but it was hard to make out past the foggy panic. He could hear Schlatt talking and feel himself moving and see Dream moving but it was like he was looking out through a thick pane of glass.

The glass splattered with blood and so did Tubbo’s face. He ricocheted back into his own body with a pounding headache and his sword stuck in Dream’s chest. Tubbo screamed and stumbled back. 

“It’s okay Tubbo, it’s okay I forgive you—” he heard Dream speaking faintly over his own screams, “—It’s okay it’s not your fault you didn’t do anything wrong you—Urgk.” He heard Dream choke as the wound in his chest let out a fresh spurt of blood. He wanted his Dad. He wanted Techno and Wilbur and—Tommy? Why could he feel Tommy? Why could he sense Tommy’s heart pounding? Why could he see Tommy running towards him, sword drawn? Why was Tommy standing with his back towards him, facing Schlatt? Tubbo felt so tired, and a nap sounded nice. Tubbo went to sleep.

-

Tommy was fine. So what if he’d just feltsensedseenheard Schlatt order Tubbo to kill Dream and Tubbo follow it like a puppet on a string. So what if now it was just him against Schlatt, Schlatt who could apparently mind control people. Niki was right behind him, she’d know what to do. All Tommy had to do was protect Tubbo until she could get there.

Tommy lunged at Schlatt swinging his sword and reversed his momentum to swing the other way when Schlatt dodged. He saw Schlatt’s nails elongate and his claws sharpen. The world fell into a blur of dodge, duck, swing, dodge, parry, step forward, swing. 

And then Schlatt’s head fell off. 

Tommy blinked past his surprise to see Niki holding a netherite blade covered in dark red blood. “Are you alright Tommy?” he nodded jerkily. She smiled, “Then let’s get going, you carry Tubbo.” he followed what she told him, gently picking up Tubbo and cradling him to his chest. He’d always thought people were supposed to look peaceful when they were sleeping, but Tubbo just looked tired. Tommy was too. He avoided looking to where Niki was pulling out her communicator to call the other hunters back to Manberg. He tried to ignore when she called Sapnap to help her because she couldn’t carry both Schlatt and Dream’s body. He couldn’t ignore Sapnap’s cry when he reached them, Dream had left him behind but he’d followed, only being a few minutes away when Niki called. 

He didn’t do anything. He just focused on Tubbo, if he focused on anything else he would break. They walked back to Manberg, Niki explained what happened to the others as best she could, they’d have to wait for Tubbo to wake up for the full story. 

But it had been hours and Tubbo still wasn’t awake. Tommy sat beside him on the bed they shared in Niki’s house, but Tubbo still hadn’t woken up.

“C’mon Big T, you’ve gotta wake up. You’re worrying everyone. Not me,” Tommy’s throat clenched around the tears pooling in his eyes, “Not me, because I’m a Big Man and I know you’re gonna be okay. But Niki’s worried, and so are Fundy and Bad and Sapnap and Eret, George and Quakity would be worried too, but no one’s told them what happened yet.” A tear dripped onto his cheek and he quickly wiped it away, he gripped Tubbo’s wrist to focus himself.

“So wake up you idiot, alright? I—I want you to wake up.” Tommy sniffed and wiped his face with his other hand. He felt stupid, Tubbo probably couldn’t even hear him and here he was pouring his heart out like some little kid. 

“... Tommy?” 

“Tubbo!” Tommy jerked his head around quick enough to give himself whiplash, but it didn’t matter because Tubbo was okay. Tubbo was awake and safe. Tubbo smiled up at him,

“Yeah, it’s me.” Tommy smiled back and hugged his brother.

He could figure everything else out later. He could figure out why Schlatt had done… well Tommy wasn’t quite sure what Schlatt did but he was sure Tubbo knew. He could figure out why he’d been able to sense Tubbo’s presence enough to follow him through the woods.

He could figure it all out later. For now, Tubbo was okay, and that was all that mattered.

Because while Tommy would never leave Tubbo alone, Tubbo would never leave Tommy alone either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Words: 3265
> 
> Total Words: 10905


End file.
